Salmond launches attack on Sturgeon’s government record
ALEX Salmond has launched a fierce attack on the record of the Government led by his one-time close ally Nicola Sturgeon as he criticised her failure to deliver a second independence referendum despite repeated pledges.
The former SNP leader and First Minister cited policies implemented by his own administration – including free university education for undergraduates, scrapping prescription charges and bridge tolls – before saying the current Government was becoming “incompetent and accident prone”.
Mr Salmond was First Minister from 2007 to 2014, when he stood down in the wake of the independence referendum, lost by the Yes side by 45 per cent to 55%.
Last year, he set up the pro-independence Alba Party taking two SNP MPs and some councillors with him amid a spate of defections after falling out with Ms Sturgeon.
However, the new party failed to get any candidates elected to Holyrood last May with Mr Salmond failing in his own. Alba is hoping to hold onto seats in councils at the forthcoming local government elections in May.
With the Scottish Government’s handling of a controversial £97 million ferries contract dominating the headlines, Mr Salmond closed the Alba Party conference being held at Hampden yesterday.
He reflected on his own career as First Minister before underlining his successor administration’s current troubles. “As First Minister I pursued a strategy which sought to persuade people to independence on the basis of good governance of the devolved Parliament,” he said.
“Our unionist opponents were very frightened of it. You may remember Lord George Foulkes once whined on the radio that the Scottish Government were creating a position where services in Scotland were manifestly better than they were south of the Border.
“When the bemused interviewer asked isn’t that what we were meant to be doing, Foulkes replied ‘yes but they are doing it deliberately’. He was right – we were doing it deliberately. I wanted to create a situation where even the most hostile critic of independence like Lord George was forced to concede the competence of Scottish Government.”
Mr Salmond added: “Now we have moved to a position where even the most ardent supporters of independence know that the SNP/Green administration is becoming incompetent and accident prone.”